When GB sprinter Sophie Capewell lost her bronze medal sprint race in last year’s Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the thought of getting back on the track for her remaining events was overwhelming. “I was getting extremely fatigued throughout the day. I was feeling emotional and tired but psychologically you just have to pretend that it hasn’t happened because we still had two more days of racing. I had to pick myself up again and focus.” The next day, the 24-year-old had to put the disappointment behind her. “For the 500-metre TT, we stripped everything back to the really simple processes. I came away with the bronze medal that day. The following day we did something very similar with the keirin and came away with the silver. I managed to turn it around halfway through a competition where I really wasn’t feeling my best.”
Capewell is not unusual in having had a mid-event crisis. We’ve all experienced something similar: a moment when something goes wrong, our plans fall through and we have a crisis of confidence. “Every single rider I have ever worked with has had a crisis mid-race,” says James Spragg, coach at Intercept Performance Consultancy. “It is just part of cycling.
No race goes perfectly every time. So much is outside of your control,” he continues, “so you should expect that it will not be smooth sailing. It is
